MANCHESTER, NH – The New Hampshire Fisher Cats made their home debut on Friday night, and even though they eventually fell by the score of 8-5 to the Hartford Yard Goats, it was another contest that proved no game is out of reach from the Fisher Cats’ potent offense.
Hartford struck first, grabbing two runs in the first and another run in the second, but New Hampshire wasn’t fazed.
Max Pentacost’s took his first home run of the year over the leftfield fence in the bottom of the second, followed by three straight hits in the third that allowed New Hampshire to level up the contest.
The Yard Goats struck back in the fifth, with three more runs that chased New Hampshire starter Nick Tepesch from the contest, but the Fisher Cat bats were not done.
Jonathan Davis’ line drive single an inning later brought home Connor Panas and Andrew Guillotte and once again it seemed like New Hampshire would find a way to slug toward victory.
However, that would be all this time for the ‘Cats, with the game’s only other run coming in the top of the seventh. There, Hartford’s Dom Nunez grabbed his third RBI of the night, a single to right off Dusty Issacs.
Tepesch (1-1) got the loss, going 4 1/3 innings, allowing six runs, five earned, off seven hits and three walks.
The win went to Jesus Tenoco (1-1), making up for his loss last week against New Hampshire with a solid, if not spectacular, five-inning performance.
Matt Pierpont got his second save of the year after retiring the side in the ninth.
Both sides reached double digits in the hit column, with Pentecost, Guillotte and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. getting two hits for New Hampshire and Jonathan Davis ending the night leading the way for the Fisher Cats with three. Bo Bichette also collected his first triple of the year in the third inning off Tenoco.
For Hartford, Nunez, Sam Hilliard and Yonathan Daza collected two hits a piece while Garrett Hampson put in a 3-for-4 night.
The Fisher Cats and Yard Goats continue the series on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. RHP Sean Reid-Foley (1-0, 0.00) will start for New Hampshire against Hartford’s RHP Peter Lambert (0-0, 0.00).
